IWSG: What's My Name?

The first Wednesday of every month is the Insecure Writer’s Support Group bloghop. It's a day where writers/bloggers reach out and post their fears and doubts about their writing, but also share their triumphs, no matter how big or small.

The biggest issue I have this month is one I've struggled with for as long as I can remember, and that's time. I know most of us struggle with the time issue. We try squeezing seconds out of our busy lives to write a chapter or two, or heck just a few sentences would be great. But I don't want to talk about the time issue today because it so often comes down to prioritizing and re-evaluating personal goals. What I do want to talk about is something that's been bugging me lately, and that's the name game. I'm usually pretty good at naming characters. However, ever since I started writing this sci-fi  story, I can't, for the life of me, seem to come up with a good name for my main character. It's gotten to the point where it's become a mental block. I'm having a hard time writing freely without her name. 

Why? *shrugs* 

I know many of you refer to certain characters as "The Bad Guy" or "Sexy" in your writing until you find a real name. But I can't even do that. I have a few pages where I refer to my main character as XX, but that just hurts my eyes and distracts my train of thought every time I see it. 

So how do you guys settle on names? Do you have a technique, or does it just come to you somewhere between morning coffee and the evening sherry? ;)

Other than that, hope everyone is happy, healthy and writing. :) 

Have a great weekend all.

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Thank you, Alex Cavanaugh for another great bloghop. And a big thank you to all the awesome co-hosts this month! 

To find out more about the IWSG monthly bloghop or the IWSG website, click the links.

IWSG: World-Building

My insecurity at the moment is world-building. 

I've been writing this science-ish-fiction-y (yeah, I just made that up!) story about an advanced civilisation. The inhabitants on this planet are recovering from the aftermath of war when an alien space ship enters their airspace. Anyway, the citizens are grouped into "cluster" cities and each cluster is responsible for helping rebuild the country in a specific way....ANYWAY, it's been difficult getting this world off the ground writing wise. It's similar to life on Earth, but also very different, AND I have to explain that, make it interesting, and not contradict myself or get lost in the details...... 

Needless to say, I've got a lot to learn which is why I'm talking this slow. A bit too slow for my taste which is another issue I'm struggling with all together. 

So basically, my world looks like this at the moment:

A big, broken, mess. 

So, anyone doing any world-building at the moment? 

Got any advice? 

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Thank you, Alex Cavanaugh for another great bloghop. And a big thank you to all your awesome co-hosts this month! 

To find out more about the IWSG monthly bloghop, or theIWSG website, click the links.

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"No one is guaranteed tomorrow, so make the most of today."